Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 12:29:49 -0800
From: Peter Richardson
Subject: Re: White House
from Bill Bryson's _Made in America_, p. 293:
On the original plans, the building was described only as "the Palace." No
one knows when people started calling it the White House--but, oddly, it
appears to have been before it was painted white. From 1800, when John
Adams became its first resident, to 1814, when the British ransacked and
partly burned it, the building was of unadorned gray Virginia freestone.
Only after the British had vandalized it was it decided to paint it white
to cover the smoke stains. So it is a little odd that people were calling
it the White House as early as 1810. In any case, the name didn't become
official until Theodore Roosevelt began printing it on the executive
mansion stationery sometime after 1901.
... not the last word, of course, but an interesting one because of the
color issue.
Peter Richardson